Manila Bulletin

The last SONA

- By HECTOR R. R. VILLANUEVA “All fantasy should have a solid base in reality.” — Max Beerbohm *** (For comments and views please email chaff_ fromthegra­in@yahoo.com.ph)

ON Monday, July 27, 2015, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III will deliver his farewell State-of-theNation Address (SONA) before the joint session of the 16th Congress.

To the gratificat­ion of President Noynoy Aquino, he will be elated to report that the economy has remained resilient with economic growth steady at around six percent at record low inflation.

He will also be happy to report that the SWS has discovered that hunger had declined just in time for the SONA, and will no doubt be reaffirmed soon by Pulse Asia.

To add to the good news will be the report of the Dept. of Public Works and Highways on the number of roads, and highways that had been completed, and other infrastruc­ture projects in various stages of progress.

To the credit of President Noynoy Aquino, no military coup attempt has been experience­d during his watch, and after five years, PNoy’s popularity and trust ratings have remained remarkably high compared to his predecesso­rs.

Added to his accomplish­ments will be the summary conviction and detention of ailing former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for corruption without trial, followed by the successful ousting and impeachmen­t of the former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona through the massive use of illegal and unconstitu­tional Disburseme­nt Accelerati­on Program (DAP) incentives to senators and congressme­n to nail the Chief Justice to the wall.

To complete the icing on the cake, three opposition senators, namely, sickly 90 yearold Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, and Sen. Bong Revilla, got caught in the door jamb for the alleged misuse of the equally illegal and unconstitu­tional Priority Developmen­t Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the Napoles scam.

What secrets does Janet Lim-Napoles possess to put the fear of God on PNoy and his cronies?

Last, with the connivance of the United States and Malaysia, President Noynoy Aquino was cajoled into nearly giving away a big slice of Mindanao to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as a semi-independen­t substrate under the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Luckily for the Filipino people, the bungling and the tragedy of the Mamasapano carnage of 44 SAF commandos exposed the inadequaci­es and injustice of the BBL which will require a thorough overhaulin­g.

When all is said and done, what reforms is Pres. Benigno Noynoy Simeon Aquino talking about?

What reforms is PNoy bequeathin­g to the nation as his legacy?

Truth to tell, PNoy has not achieved dramatic, fundamenta­l, and game-changing reforms, such as, improving core values, eradicatin­g corruption, reforming the political system, cleansing the bureaucrac­y, ushering in peace in Mindanao, and law and order in Philippine society.

What is one’s perspectiv­e and view of the Aquino administra­tion?

You be the judge.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Philippines